Let's Aim For Peace, Reagan Tells Soviets

WASHINGTON — President Reagan, in a speech broadcast to the Soviet Union, said Saturday the United States has no hostile intentions and that the two sides must never engage in a nuclear war.

Using an expanded weekly radio address for a folksy but firm presentation of his views, Reagan said he hopes his summit meeting this month with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev will be fruitful and lead to more sessions between the leaders.

The 10-minute speech, twice its normal length, was carried over the Voice of America. Officials said it was aimed at reaching a worldwide audience of 120 million, including 23.6 million in the Soviet Union.

Reagan's tone was markedly different from one he has used in discussing the Soviet government. Friday, for example, he said he had ''no illusions about Soviet in- tentions and fundamental differences separating us.''

Saturday, in remarks generously sprinkled with references to the two countries as ''we,'' he offered an explanation of his plan for a space-based defense against missiles and highlighted American-Soviet ties.

He also called for expanded contacts, including the chance to communicate on each other's television systems.

Reagan referred to himself ''as a husband, father and grandfather who shares your deepest hopes -- that all our children can live and prosper in a world of peace.'' He told of growing up in small-town America with no political ambitions and becoming president, and he said he maintained values that he learned as a boy and that are shared by fellow Americans.

''Now, I know that much has been written in your press about America's hostile intentions toward you,'' he said. ''I reject these distortions.''

''Americans are a peace-loving people,'' he said. ''We do not threaten your nation and never will.

''The American people are tolerant, slow to anger, but staunch in defense of their liberties, and, like you, their country.''

He took a similar tone on the issue of nuclear weapons, which is expected to be a key subject at the summit meeting in Geneva on Nov. 19 and 20.

''Today we must both face the challenge of eliminating nuclear weapons,'' Reagan said. ''I have said many times, and will say again to you, a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. I pray God that we can rid the world of these dangerous weapons, in part by finding a reliable defense against them.''

Saying that he wanted to make clear his aims for the defense system, which Soviet officials have staunchly opposed as a device that would militarize space, Reagan said it would protect people from incoming missiles and, ideally, render nuclear weapons obsolete. Reagan repeated his contention that the Russians are conducting their own research on such a shield.

''If and when our research proves that a defensive shield against nuclear missiles is practical,'' the president said, ''I believe our two nations and those others that have nuclear weapons should come together and agree on how gradually to eliminate offensive nuclear weapons as we make our defensive system available to all.

''We ought to start talking about this process at the Geneva arms talks,'' Reagan said.

As for the summit meeting, the president said he hoped it would be fruitful and would lead to other meetings.

''We seek peace not only for ourselves but for all those who inhabit this small planet,'' he said.

''Everything has a season,'' he added. ''Let us hope as we near Christmas and the new year that this will be a season for peace.''

Reagan told his audience that America is ''confusing to outsiders,'' partly because of its diversity, and added, ''Our government is elected by the people; it is not above the people or above the law.''

''The press criticizes me and sometimes it hurts, but that is their role -- to raise difficult questions and keep officials accountable to the people,'' he said. ''But no one should mistake our freedoms for weakness.''

The speech was broadcast live with simultaneous translations in eight languages -- Russian, Ukrainian, Spanish, Lithuanian, Albanian, Persian, Arabic and Swahili. In addition, it was transmitted by satellite to 55 countries by the U.S. Information Agency.

Administration officials said the radio address represented one of the last planned overtures before the president leaves for Geneva next Saturday. Thursday night he will make a nationally televised address.

The administration had sought to have the president appear on Soviet television, but Moscow never approved the request.

Reagan noted Saturday that parts of his recent interview with Soviet journalists were omitted when it was published in the Soviet government newspaper, Izvestia, last week. He said ''much of what was left out, I think, was important,'' and he called for leaders of both countries to have the opportunity to communicate through each other's television systems.